NEW YORK–(ENEWSPF)–March 30, 2012.  India’s Supreme Court will now begin hearing a challenge to the country’s patent law by the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis on July 10, 2012. The Novartis Supreme Court case is the final act in a legal battle that stretches back six years and has significant ramifications[Read More…]

Canadian Doctors Call For Evidence-Based Drug Policy Making OREGON–(ENEWSPF)–March 29, 2012.  In an article published Wednesday in Open Medicine, three leading Canadian physicians called for comprehensive drug policy reform. The chief medical health officers from British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Nova Scotia say that the war on drugs is ‘ineffective’ and that[Read More…]

Scans reveal astonishingly simple 3D grid structure — NIH-funded study Bethesda, Maryland–(ENEWSPF)–March 29, 2012.  The brain appears to be wired more like the checkerboard streets of New York City than the curvy lanes of Columbia, Md., suggests a new brain imaging study. The most detailed images, to date, reveal a[Read More…]

New York, NY–(ENEWSPF)–March 29, 2012.  The activation of specific endogenous cannabinoid receptors moderates the progression of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), according to preclinical data published online in the journal PLoS ONE. Investigators at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City assessed whether the administration of a[Read More…]

Plymouth, United Kingdom–(ENEWSPF)–March 29, 2012.  The administration of THC is protective against neuronal injury in a human Parkinson’s disease (PD) cell culture model, according to data to be published in the journal Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology. Parkinson’s disease is a degenerative brain disorder marked by involuntary movements. Investigators at the[Read More…]

With Pay-for-Performance Expanding Across U.S. Under Affordable Care Act, Policymakers Should Focus on Creating Incentive Program That Works Boston, MA–(ENEWSPF)–March 28, 2012.  Paying hospitals to improve their quality of care, known as pay-for-performance, has gained wide acceptance in the U.S. and Medicare has spent tens of millions of dollars on[Read More…]

CDC data help communities better serve these children Atlanta, GA–(ENEWSPF)–March 29, 2012.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 1 in 88 children in the United States has been identified as having an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), according to a new study released today that looked at data[Read More…]

Special feature highlights cancers associated with excess weight and lack of sufficient physical activity Atlanta, GA–(ENEWSPF)–March 28, 2012.  Death rates from all cancers combined for men, women, and children continued to decline in the United States between 2004 and 2008, according to the Annual Report to the Nation on the[Read More…]

Silver Spring, Maryland–(ENEWSPF)–March 27, 2012.  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Omontys (peginesatide) to treat anemia, a condition in which the body does not have enough healthy red blood cells, in adult dialysis patients who have chronic kidney disease (CKD). Omontys is a new erythropoiesis-stimulating agent (ESA) that[Read More…]

Move provides new breadth to landmark study of people 50+ Bethesda, Maryland–(ENEWSPF)–March 27, 2012.  The Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a 20-year nationwide survey of the health, economic and social status of older Americans, has added genetic information from consenting participants to its massive database. Supported by the National Institute[Read More…]